Cashew Cultivation, Access to Land and Food Security in ...centaur.reading.ac.uk/37424/1/Walker research note Ghana final.pdf · cashew prices with export companies, processors and

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Walker Institute for Climate System Research

Research Note 6

July 2014

Cashew Cultivation, Access to Land and Food Security in Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana:

Preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty

Ruth Evans 1, Simon Mariwah 2 and Kwabena Barima Antwi2.

1 Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, UK

2 Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Walker Institute Research Note 6: Cashew Cultivation, Access to land and Food security in Brong-Ahafo region, Ghana: Preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to the University of Reading and Walker Institute for Climate System Research for funding this exploratory study. We would like to thank Dauda Suleman, Yvonne Ami Adjakloe and the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast, for research assistance. We are grateful to the elders and community members of Seketia, Jaman North district and other research participants for their contributions to the research process. We are grateful to Elena Tarnavsky for rainfall data analysis. We also thank the University of Reading, University of Cape Coast and University of Ghana Advisory Group members, and in particular, Giuseppe Feola, for their comments and advice. We thank Kathy Maskell and the Walker Institute for assistance in publishing this report. A digital video of key messages for policy and practice accompanies this Research Note, available from: http://www.reading.ac.uk/geographyandenvironmentalscience/Research/HER/ges-RE-Ghana.aspx.

TO CITE THIS REPORT

Evans, R., Mariwah, S. and Antwi, K.B. (2014) ‘Cashew Cultivation, Access to Land and Food Security in Brong-

Ahafo Region, Ghana: Preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty', Research Note 6, Walker

Institute for Climate System Research, University of Reading, July 2014, www.walker-

institute.ac.uk/publications/research_notes/WalkerInResNote6.pdf

TO CONTACT THE AUTHORS

Ruth Evans, [email protected]

Simon Mariwah, [email protected]

Kwabena Barima Antwi, [email protected].

WALKER INSTITUTE RESEARCH NOTE SERIES

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Research notes may contain preliminary research; provide a review of recent research or highlight results of

relevance to policy and/or business. Readers are encouraged to provide feedback to the author(s) (contact

details above) or to the Walker Institute communications manager (Kathy Maskell, [email protected]).

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Contents

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

1. Research context............................................................................................................................................................................ 3

1.1 Food security, access to land and the intergenerational transmission of poverty ............................................... 3

1.2 Cashew production and climate change in Ghana ....................................................................................................... 5

2. Research objectives ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7

3. Research methods ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7

4. Profile of the case study rural community .............................................................................................................................. 9

5. Research findings ........................................................................................................................................................................ 11

5.1 Mapping livelihoods, food security and access to resources .................................................................................. 11

5.2 Changing access to land and inheritance practices? ................................................................................................ 14

5.3 Impacts of increased cashew cultivation on food security and poverty alleviation ......................................... 15

5.4 Global-local interdependencies and power relations .............................................................................................. 18

5.5 Reducing risks and preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty? .............................................. 20

6. Key messages for policy and practice .................................................................................................................................... 22

7. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 25

References ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 27


1

Summary This research aimed to investigate the implications of changing agricultural land use from food

production towards increased cashew cultivation for food security and poverty alleviation in Jaman

North District, Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. Based on qualitative, participatory research with a

total of 60 participants, the research found that increased cashew production had led to

improvements in living standards for many farmers and their children over recent years. Global

demand for cashew is projected to continue to grow rapidly in the immediate future and cashew-

growing areas of Ghana are well placed to respond to this demand. Cashew farmers however were

subject to price fluctuations in the value of Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN) due to unequal power relations

with intermediaries and export buyer companies and global markets, in addition to other

vulnerabilities that constrained the quality and quantity of cashew and food crops they could

produce. The expansion of cashew plantations was leading to pressure on the remaining family

lands available for food crop production, which community members feared could potentially

compromise the food security of rural communities and the land inheritance of future generations.

The research identifies a number of key messages for policy and practice:

Access to basic services and community development

Farmers involved in increased cashew cultivation in rural communities in Brong-Ahafo region

benefited in many ways from the sale of Raw Cashew Nuts, a non-traditional export cash crop.

The income they earned from cashew helped to improve housing, provided access to better quality

food and alleviated food shortages during the 'lean season' and enabled parents to invest more in

the education and healthcare of the younger generation. However, other indicators of quality of

life, such as access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and access to healthcare, have

not kept pace with other improvements in living standards in rural communities and need to

be addressed.

Access to education and skills training

Increased investment in the education of younger generations was regarded as a key means of

preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty. This raises questions however about the

quality of education that students receive in rural communities and whether this equips young

people with the knowledge and skills they need, in the context of a rapidly changing rural

environment subject to increasing competition for land and climate-related pressures. Efforts are

needed to invest in appropriate agricultural education, apprenticeships and skills training to

ensure that young people are able to access employment opportunities in rural communities and

develop diverse, sustainable livelihoods in the future.

Awareness-raising about pressures on land and food security

Men, women and young people were concerned about the rapid expansion of cashew plantations in

their rural community, expressing fears about food insecurity and insufficient land for future

generations. The expansion of cashew plantations on family lands in the study location was leading

to increased land disputes and conflicts, with wealthier farmers encroaching on the land of poorer

farmers, exacerbating existing gender and class inequalities. Since women and young people across

Sub-Saharan Africa often have usufruct land rights1 and are responsible for food production,

reductions in the land available for food crops are likely to have most impact on women and

1 Use rights to land. For example, women often gain usufruct land rights when they marry, enabling them to grow food crops on their husband’s land (Yngstrom, 2002).


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young people, leading to potentially negative impacts on poverty alleviation and gender equality

goals. Women are however also increasingly cultivating cashew on their own farms and

benefiting from this additional source of income. This may help to safeguard their access to

land and prevent the intergenerational transmission of poverty, if women have more income

available to invest in their children's education and healthcare and if valuable assets such as land can

be passed on to their children, including daughters.

While local leaders appeared to be able to resolve most land disputes at present, awareness-raising

activities among chiefs, elders, family heads, male and female farmers and young people could

help to ensure that adequate land is allocated to food production in future. This could also help

to reduce land disputes, spread farmers' risks and ensure that the land inheritance of marginalised

groups, such as widows, orphaned young people, migrants and new-comers, is safeguarded.

Women and young people, in particular, wanted more opportunities for dialogue with traditional

leaders, elders, family heads and older generations about land use and food security in the present

and in the future.

Development of stronger farmers' associations to negotiate prices with cashew buyers and processors

While the income from increased cashew production was welcomed, many participants at local,

district and national levels felt that cashew farmers were losing out to intermediaries and export

companies who pushed the prices down, and called for government intervention to regulate prices.

Some strategic stakeholders however thought that government involvement could be counter-

productive, since farmers would not be able to benefit from price increases in RCN in global

markets. Strategic professionals and male cashew farmers thought that it was important to

organise farmers into groups to form strong local and national associations to negotiate

cashew prices with export companies, processors and traders. Trust was regarded as crucial to

the success of cashew farmers' associations and co-operatives, and new technologies, such as

mobile phones and IT software, were regarded as helpful in fostering greater transparency.

Access to credit, affordable inputs and information about good agricultural practices and climate-related pressures

Access to credit, affordable inputs, information about good agricultural practices and the

ability to hire labour are key to enabling vulnerable households to invest in their cashew and food

crop farms, increase yields, diversify livelihood strategies and develop sustainable pathways out of

poverty. Good agricultural practices in planting, maintaining and pruning cashew trees, alongside

initiatives such as beekeeping, may help to substantially increase cashew yields in West Africa. More

support and training from Agricultural Extension Officers on best practices in cultivating cashew

and greater awareness about 'alley cropping' spacing methods for intercropping food crops

with cashew may help to ensure that adequate land is reserved for food crop cultivation in districts

and regions involved in cashew cultivation in Ghana.

Increases in the quality and quantity of cashew produced, alongside the use and sale of by-

products, could make a substantial difference to the income that cashew farmers in Brong-Ahafo

and other regions in Ghana are able to obtain from their existing trees. This would help to reduce

the risk of poverty for future generations, without needing to expand cashew plantations and

compromise the area of land available for food crop production.

The suitability of most of the current cashew-growing areas in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire will increase

by 2050. The research reveals a need for more information about climate-related pressures and

efforts to build the adaptive capacity of farmers to respond to changing environmental

conditions that may affect particularly food crops and horticulture in future.


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1. Research context Despite global progress in reducing hunger since 1990, progress has slowed and levelled off since

the food, financial and fuel crisis in 2007-8 (FAO et al, 2012). Ghana has made important progress in

meeting the Millennium Development Goal target on reducing hunger; less than 5% of the

population were undernourished in 2010-12 (FAO et al, 2012). Land is central to people's

livelihoods, and poverty and food insecurity in rural areas continue to be associated with a lack of

land or livestock, land tenure insecurity and an inability to develop alternative non-farm livelihoods

in response to diminishing agricultural opportunities in many African countries (Ellis and Mdoe,

2003; Toulmin, 2008). The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation et al (2012: 2) report

argues that since those living in extreme poverty depend on agriculture and related activities for a

significant part of their livelihoods, 'agricultural growth involving smallholders, especially women,

will be most effective in reducing extreme poverty and hunger when it increases returns to labour

and generates employment for the poor'.

According to the African Cashew Initiative (ACi) (2014), Africa's production of cashew has

continued to grow rapidly over the last ten years, with Côte d'Ivoire currently the largest producer in

Africa and second in the world, while cashew production is not growing in India and production is

falling in Vietnam and Brazil. At present, 90 % of cashew produced in Africa is shipped to Vietnam,

India and in recent years, to Brazil for processing. According to ACi's (2014) conservative

projections, global demand for cashew will continue to grow from over 2 million tonnes of Raw

Cashew Nuts (RCNs) in 2012-13 to over 3 million tonnes in 2019-20. To meet this demand, African

production needs to grow by an average of 8% per annum, 2013-2020, while if current global

demand continued to grow at current rates, African production would need to increase by an

average of 16% per annum to meet this demand. Farmers are subject to price volatility in global

markets, as prices fluctuate considerably within the harvesting season as well as between seasons.

The global price of cashew kernels peaked in July 2011, but has stabilised since 2012 at

approximately US$ 3.25 per lb (ACi, 2014).

Agricultural land use in much of Brong-Ahafo region, Ghana has been shifting from the production

of food crops towards increased cashew nut cultivation in recent decades. This shift towards cashew

cultivation is related to increased demand for cashew and the income this provides, alongside

difficulties facing small-holder farmers, such as decreased soil fertility, variability in rainfall and

temperature patterns and an inability to purchase fertiliser and pesticides and access credit (Bugri,

2008). While the income from cashew production may increase living standards, the loss of land for

food crops may result in greater vulnerability to food insecurity and chronic poverty, especially

among women and children. The introduction of cashew, a tree crop with a long life span, on family

land may consolidate communal property rights into an individual's (usually men's) sole ownership

(Rocheleau and Edmunds, 1997; Berry, 2009). Young people's inheritance of land and their ability

to adapt to climate-related challenges and develop sustainable livelihoods in future may also be

compromised. This exploratory research seeks to investigate how norms about access to land and

changing agricultural land use affect food security and poverty in rural communities in Ghana.

1.1 Food security, access to land and the intergenerational transmission of poverty

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation defines food security as:


4

A situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic

access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food

preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO et al., 2012: 57)

Despite such definitions, a diversity of approaches to 'food security' are apparent within the policy

and research literature. Lang and Barling (2012: 313) identify two overarching perspectives: one is

primarily agricultural-focused and centred on raising production as the core answer to under-

consumption and hunger; the other is an emerging food systems approach, which is more social

and ecological and recognises the need to address a complex array of problems, not just

production.

The authors argue that the rapid price rises of oil and world agricultural commodities in 2006-8

called into question the old discourse on food security and insecurity. While overview reports have

focused mainly on agricultural production, social science research has shown that 'even if one's

focus is on farming, a supply chain or systems approach becomes essential' (Lang and Barling, 2012:

317). Farmers are increasingly drawn into global commodity production, as the first link in

increasingly complex food value chains. While mainstream approaches to economic development

regard a shift of labour from the rural and agriculture to the urban and off-farm as 'progress', Lang

and Barling argue that a counter-narrative has emerged through campaigning groups such as Via

Campesina, but also the World Bank and FAO, which propose that:

Small-scale farming is important for landcare; that smallholder and female-run productivity

per hectare can be high; and that there is more social value in raising their output further

than in driving them from the land, adding to already fast-growing conurbations (Lang and

Barling, 2012: 318).

Food sovereignty, which Via Campesina campaign for, was defined in the Declaration of Nyéléni in

2007, as:

the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through

ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and

agriculture systems. It puts those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of

food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations (cited in

Shawki, 2012: 428).

Food sovereignty and food sustainability approaches bring to the fore questions of social justice,

such as gender and intergenerational equality in access to and control of natural resources and

environmental capital, such as land.

Research from many different African contexts has revealed that access to land depends on complex

socio-cultural norms and practices that vary according to place (Meinzen-Dick et al., 1997;

Joireman, 2008). A recent UNDP (2012: 137) report argues that secure access, tenure, use and

control of land, whether through customary systems or legal means, are essential to achieving food

security and to protecting women and vulnerable groups from injustices related to the arbitrary

management of land. Recent legal reforms and development initiatives have sought to promote

women’s equal access to land as a means of alleviating poverty (Budlender and Alma, 2011).

A key defining feature of ‘chronic poverty’ is its extended duration and people who experience

'significant deprivations for a period of five years or more' are more likely to remain poor for much of

their lifecourse and pass on their poverty to subsequent generations (Hulme and Shepherd, 2003:

405). The 'intergenerational transmission of poverty' can been seen as an extreme form of chronic

poverty (Bird and Higgins, 2011). Research has revealed the need to go beyond thinking only about


5

child poverty, but rather to explore key moments in the lifecourse and to analyse the 'social,

economic and institutional factors that enable poverty and inequality to persist and to be replicated

by one generation after another, at the same time as household and intra-household factors' (Bird

and Higgins, 2011: 5). Ownership of physical assets and positive transfers of resources appear to

break poverty cycles and interrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty (Cooper, 2012).

Following the sustainable livelihoods framework (Chambers and Conway, 1992), assets have been

conceptualised as different forms of capital, including physical assets and material resources, such

as livestock and property, human, financial, socio-political and environmental capital, such as land.

Inheritance represents a critical mode for the transfer of land and other assets between generations

(Cooper, 2012). An understanding of the 'intergenerational transmission' of poverty needs to be

embedded in critical understandings of the social institutions, structures and power dynamics that

perpetuate conditions of poverty, rather than reinforcing underclass perspectives that place

responsibility for the transmission of poverty on parents and underplay structural dimensions.

The literature on gender and land suggests that increased commercialisation and privatization of

land often consolidates men’s control of land (Lastarria-Cornhiel, 1997; Yngstorm, 2002). While

there is a growing interest in the gendered impacts of recent large-scale land acquisitions in Africa

(Doss et al. 2014), little attention to date has been paid to everyday gendered struggles over land in

rural communities and how changing agricultural land use may affect food security and poverty

alleviation for different groups. Few studies have explored young people's perspectives on access to

land and intergenerational tensions in safeguarding future land inheritance and preventing the

intergenerational transmission of poverty. Furthermore, factors such as class, gender and culture

play an important role in whether climate change adaptation strategies are chosen or rejected at

the local scale (Nielsen and Reenberg, 2010). This report adopts a 'sustainable food systems'

approach to 'food security' and land rights, in recognition of the complex interplay between socio-

cultural, economic and ecological issues and inequalities in access to land and other resources.

1.2 Cashew production and climate change in Ghana

Agricultural activities contribute to over a third of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product and the majority

of the population (60%) are involved in agricultural production (ACi, 2010). The agricultural sector

is comprised of crops such as cocoa and others, livestock, fisheries and forestry. Non-traditional

export crops, such as pineapple, mango and cashew nuts, are of increasing significance to the

Ghanaian economy (ACi, 2010).

Although cashew production began in Ghana in the 1960s under a government programme, poor

agricultural management practices resulted in drastic declines in yields and plantations were

abandoned (Dedzoe et al., 2001). From the mid-1990s onwards, the export of RCNs increased

significantly from 15 metric tonnes in 1991 to 61,590 tonnes in 2008. Annual local production was

estimated to be 26,454 tonnes, indicating significant cross-border trading of RCNs, especially

between Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana (ACi, 2010). A recent CIAT (2011: 2) report notes that global

demand for cashew is growing and argues that 'the crop has the potential to reduce poverty among

the rural poor' in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.

As Dedzoe et al. (2001) note, cashew does well under high temperatures, within a range of 15-35

°C, with an optimum range of 24-30°C. Although the crop is drought resistant, it requires an annual

precipitation range of 500-4000 mm and requires a distinct dry period of at least four months or

more for reasonably good yields (Dedzoe et al., 2001: 104). Well drained, deep, light to medium-

textured soils are preferable. Dedzoe et al. (2001) conclude that the Forest-Savannah Transition

agro-ecological zone of Ghana, within which Brong-Ahafo region is located, is most suitable for

cashew production, in terms of climatic conditions and soil characteristics.


6

Ghana and other countries in West Africa which depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture, are

projected to experience more frequent and intense droughts, altered rainfall patterns and increases

in temperature as this century continues (Codjoe et al., 2012). These changes are likely to affect

crop yields and vulnerability to poverty, since scarce resources are often already under pressure

from population growth, increasing competition for land, poor soil fertility and other social,

political, technical and financial constraints (ibid). Cashew yields can decrease considerably, due to

high temperatures, droughts, and floods (Gilleo et al., 2011).

The current optimum altitude for cashew is 300-500 meters above sea level (masl), which is

projected to decrease to 100-350 masl by 2050 (CIAT, 2011). In Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, the yearly

and monthly minimum and maximum temperatures are projected to increase by 2030 and

continue to increase by 2050, while seasonality in precipitation and the number of dry months

(five) remain unchanged (CIAT, 2011). The CIAT report concludes that the suitability of most of the

current cashew-growing areas in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire will increase by 2050, as shown in Figures

1 and 2. At present, most of Brong-Ahafo region is of very good suitability for cashew cultivation

(Figure 1), while by 2050, southern parts of the region will increase in suitability, while some

northwest and eastern parts of the region will decrease in suitability (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Current climate suitability for cashew production within cashew-growing regions of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The grey areas inside the suitable areas are protected areas not available for cashew production (CIAT, 2011: 12).


7

Figure 2: Suitability change for cashew growing regions by 2050 (CIAT, 2011: 16).

2. Research objectives This exploratory research project was developed from the shared research interests of the authors.

The research objectives were:

To map livelilhoods, land tenure and inheritance practices from a gendered and

intergenerational perspective in the research location;

To explore how and why access to agricultural land may be changing for different groups;

To analyse the effects of increased cashew cultivation and changing agricultural land use on

food security and poverty alleviation;

To explore perceptions of climate-related and other risks affecting small-holder farmers

and how these can be reduced;

To develop international collaborative relations for future research.

3. Research methods A qualitative methodology was considered most appropriate for this exploratory project. Seketia, a

small rural community in Jaman North district, Brong-Ahafo region, was selected as the primary

location, due to its relatively recent involvement in cashew nut production. Using snowball

sampling, a diverse sample of community members of different genders, ages and social status and

with varying sizes of cashew plantations, were identified to participate in the study. Ethical approval

for the research was granted by the University of Reading Research Ethics Committee in 2012 and

2014.


8

During Phase 1, from August to October 2012, research was conducted with a total of 60

participants. Three focus groups and community mapping activities were conducted with 24

participants in the case study rural community, comprising separate groups of men, women and

young people (8 in each) to map access to land and other resources. The focus group discussions

focused on cashew cultivation, land use and inheritance practices, changing livelihood

opportunities, perceptions of poverty and community members' views about increased cashew

cultivation, food security and access to land in the future.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 participants involved in cashew cultivation

from a diverse sample of 13 households in Seketia, the rural community in Jaman North, Brong-

Ahafo region. Two participants of different genders and/or generations from each household were

selected where possible to provide insight into access to land for different groups and intra-

household divisions of labour and resource allocations. The majority of interviewees were of Bono

ethnicity, a sub-grouping of the Akan, while one was Fante, another sub-grouping of the Akan, and

two were of Nkona (Nkorang) ethnicity, who live mainly in Brong-Ahafo region. All interviewees

were Christian, belonging predominantly to the Presbyterian, Roman Catholic or Pentecostal

Church. The majority of households in the sample were male-headed, with three de-jure female-

headed households, headed by widows and one de-facto female-headed household, headed by a

married woman whose husband usually stayed in Sefwi, Western region to manage his cocoa farm,

visiting and sending remittances regularly.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 key informants at the village, district and

national levels, including local elders, the chair of the Unit Committee, representatives of the

Cashew Growers Association and Cashew Buyers Association, representatives of the District

Agriculture Office, representatives of the Cashew Desk at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Accra

and an international NGO. Table 1 summarises the research methods used and the number of

participants.

Table 1: Research methods and number of participants

Research method No. of men (aged over 25 years)

No. of women (aged over 25 years)

No. of young men (aged 14-25)

No. of young women (aged 14-25)

PHASE 1: Focus groups and community mapping

8 8 3 5

Household interviews 9 9 6 2 Key informant interviews: Village 5 1 District 1 National 3 Total participants in Phase 1: 60 26 18 9 7

PHASE 2: Participatory feedback workshops in rural community

10 11 5 6

Strategic stakeholder workshop 1 10 Key informant interview: International level

1

Total participants in Phase 2: 44 11 22 5 6

All the audio-recorded interviews and focus groups were transcribed and translated into English and

analysed thematically, drawing on the literature on access to land, food security, rural vulnerabilities

and the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Analytic summaries of each interview and focus

group were written to assist in identifying the overarching themes for this report.


9

During Phase 2, in March 2014, a series of participatory feedback workshops were held with men,

women and young people in the rural community and with strategic stakeholders working at

national level. A total of 32 community members and elders, the majority of whom had

participated in the first phase of the research, were invited to participate in a series of workshops to

discuss the findings, rank their priorities for action and to co-produce a short participatory video

that aimed to generate discussion with strategic stakeholders and to disseminate the key research

messages for policy and practice. The first workshop was held with 10 male elders and farmers and

11 female farmers, with discussions held in separate gender groups. The second workshop was held

with 11 young people (aged 17-24), comprising 5 young men and 6 young women, with some

discussions held in separate gender groups (see Table 1). Informal interviews were also conducted

with the Manager and other members of a small local cashew processing co-operative and a

Ghanaian export business owner as part of the participatory video process.

Following filming and the initial edit, the video was screened in the rural community to an audience

of approximately 40 participants and community leaders, including the Head of the District

Assembly, to verify that participants were satisfied with this visual representation of key research

messages and to generate further feedback and discussion. The preliminary findings and video were

then presented and discussed further in a workshop in Accra with 11 strategic stakeholders working

at national and international levels, who were also invited to contribute to the video. Participants

included representatives of the African Cashew Alliance, the Africa Cashew Initiative of GIZ (the

German Government Agency for International Cooperation) , the Ministry of Trade and Industry and

the Hunger Project Ghana. The audio-recorded workshop discussions and an additional strategic

key informant interview were transcribed and analysed for this final report. Final edits were made to

the video that accompanies this report. Although the small purposive sample of participants

recruited for this research cannot be seen as representative of cashew farmers and other

stakeholders in Ghana, it provides in-depth insights into the perspectives of different stakeholders

involved in cashew production at local, district, national and international levels.

4. Profile of the case study rural community As is the case for the whole of Jaman North District and the majority of Brong-Ahafo Region,

Seketia, the case study rural community, lies in the forest savannah transition zone of Ghana, which

is highly suitable for cashew production (Dedzoe et al. 2001). The land is fairly flat with a few hilly

areas and is located at an elevation of 276 meters above sea level. The major vegetation is woodland

with a few patches of semi-deciduous secondary forest found around water sources (Jaman North

District Assembly, 2014); the majority of land surrounding the village is used for farming purposes.

The District Assembly notes that the District is facing a serious threat of deforestation through

pressures from human and animal activities, such as housing expansion, farming, overgrazing,

bushfires and timber exploitation, which have contributed to the seasonal drying up of rivers and

other water bodies.

There are two main rainfall patterns, the major season (April to July) and the minor season

(September to November), with a dry period in August. The mean annual rainfall in the district

ranges from120mm to 178mm per annum (District Assembly, 2014). Figure 3 shows a comparison

of mean monthly rainfall from Figure 3 in Dezdoe et al. (2001) and from the TAMSAT rainfall dataset

for the nearest station at Wenchi, located at 7.73°N latitude and 2.21°W longitude, or

approximately 73 km east of Seketia, the case study rural community. Although covering different

time periods and one is based on station data (Figure 3a), while the other is a satellite-based rainfall

estimate produced by TAMSAT (Figure 3b), the two annual distributions of rainfall are quite similar

over these two time periods.


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(a)

(b)

Figure 3: Mean monthly rainfall in mm for Wenchi, Ghana over the 1960-1995 time period (from Figure 3 in Dezdoe et al. 2001) and for the same location over the 1983-2012 time period as derived from the TAMSAT monthly rainfall estimates.

As shown in Figure 4, the time period covered by the research (2011 and 2012) does not appear to

deviate substantially from long-term average rainfall conditions, though there may have been locally

variable rainfall patterns that could have impacted on cashew and food crop yields in 2011 and

2012.

(b)

Figure 4: Monthly rainfall from Jan 1983 to Dec 2012 in mm for Seketia, Ghana (source: TAMSAT monthly rainfall estimates).

The population of the village was approximately 1,698 in 2000 (Ghana Statistical Service, 2005).

With a population growth rate of 2.3% per annum in Brong-Ahafo region (Ghana Statistical Service,

2012), the population of the village is estimated to be 2,088 in 2013. The population is composed

mainly of Bonos, a sub-grouping of the Akan ethnic group, who are the indigenes, and other ethnic

groups such as the Dagartis who have migrated from the Upper West Region of Ghana.

The majority of the population are farmers, which is a reflection of the general economic activities

of the majority (70%) of the residents of Jaman North District (District Assembly, 2014). The

production of yam, maize, cassava, plantain and cocoyam is considered generally high, as they

constitute the main food staples; the District Assembly (2014) suggests that the District is self-

sufficient in terms of access to food, since the preferred food staples are always available and at

affordable prices in the district throughout the year. Farmers’ access to Agriculture Extension

Agents (AEA) in the district is generally poor, with an AEA/farmer ratio of 1:1,500, which is higher

than the national/ desired ratio of 1:1,000 (District Assembly, 2014). The lands in the District are

owned by the three paramount traditional authorities who have control over the use of land within

their jurisdictions. The average farm size in the District is approximately 1 hectare (2.5 acres), while

the proportion of women with access to land for cultivation is estimated to be 30 per cent (District

Assembly, 2014).


11

Approximately 240 households live in the rural community, with an average household size of 7.1

people (Ghana Population and Housing Census, 2000). The community has serious housing

problems ranging from poor roofing to heavily cracked walls which cause serious hazards. Houses

with thatch roofing are also at risk of fire when people cook indoors. Homeowners try to renovate

their houses with their small income when houses collapse; walls are often rebuilt with locally

moulded bricks, and roofs which blow off during the rainy season may be replaced with aluminium

roofing sheet. A few new houses are built annually, but many remain uncompleted due to financial

difficulties.

The village only has one communal pit latrine, with very few private latrines, and four boreholes to

provide safe drinking water, which participants reported broke down frequently. There is a rural

health clinic, school and several church denominations. Gross enrolment rates for kindergarten and

primary school are generally high in the District (100% and 73% respectively), but progression from

Primary to Junior High School (60% gross enrolment) and Senior High School is poor (District

Assembly, 2014). Water and sanitation-related diseases (malaria, diarrhoea and intestinal worms)

constituted the highest reported cases in the District, 2007-9 (District Assembly, 2014).

5. Research findings

5.1 Mapping livelihoods, food security and access to resources

Most community members relied on farming for their livelihood. They cultivated cashew, food

crops, such as maize, yam, cocoyam, cassava and plantain and beans, fruit and vegetables, such as

okra, tomatoes, garden eggs and pepper. The women worked with their spouses on the farms, but

also had their own farms. Some members of the community were also teachers, tailors, carpenters

or mechanics or had small shops or engaged in other small business activities. Many women earned

income from the sale of peppers, tomatoes and garden eggs or from the sale of cooked food. Most

of the food crops, such as yam, maize and cassava, were used for household food consumption, but

some participants produced enough food to sell surpluses for income. Several interviewees also had

small livestock, such as goats, sheep and fowl which they sold when they experienced financial

difficulties, or occasionally consumed. An estimated half or more of the population of the village

also had cocoa farms in the Western region of Ghana, where they hired labourers and/or stayed

there for periods, especially during the cocoa harvest. Young people, especially young men, and

other community members experiencing poverty, such as widows and older women, often worked

as day labourers on other people's farms to earn money to buy food or other basic necessities. They

usually earned 2-6 GHS [equivalent of 0.66 - 2 US$] per day. Some young people also migrated to

the Western region to work on the cocoa farms, or sought work, training or apprenticeships in

towns and cities in Ghana or migrated to other countries such as Nigeria, Libya, Spain and other

countries in Europe or the USA. Several interviewees relied on remittances from adult kin living

elsewhere in Ghana to help pay the bills.

In the focus groups, men, women and young people all identified a range of natural and community

resources that were important to them. Men tended to prioritise their farms, the health clinic, the

school, the churches, and the roads as a route out of the community that enabled them to access

markets for their produce. Women tended to prioritise the local market in the village where they

sold vegetables and food crops (see Figure 5), the churches, the boreholes where they fetched

water, their farms, the health clinic, the school, the roads and the river, located two miles away, from

which the women and children fetched water, load bearing on their heads, when the boreholes in

the village broke down. The women also reported having to wake at midnight to queue for water

until dawn when only one borehole was in operation. The young people tended to prioritise the


12

school, the churches, the football field, the farms and the roads, as a means of moving away from

the community to continue their studies or to pursue employment opportunities (see Figure 6).

Figure 5: Women and children selling foodstuffs at the local market

Figure 6: Young people's participatory map of the rural community

Participants reported that they usually walked to their farms, which were located 1-4 miles away

from their homes in the village. Men were usually responsible for cutting down trees, clearing the

land and raising the mounds, while women intercropped food crop seedlings and were responsible

for weeding, maintaining and harvesting the crops. Children also helped women with planting,

weeding and harvesting crops and boys were often responsible for tending livestock (sheep, fowls).

While some women reported that the income from the sale of farm produce was usually pooled to

meet the family's needs, they also said that a husband or wife may maintain separate budgets for

income earned through their own activities. Some women said that men controlled the income

from cash crops such as cocoa and cashew and/or allocated a portion of the cashew plantation to

their wife:


13

'The men do not usually disclose income from the sale of cash crops. He uses his discretion

to spend the money. The woman has little say'.

'By tradition, some men allocate a portion of the cashew plantation to their wives and tell

them to sell and use the money to cater for themselves. The men do not usually give them

the money'.

Others reported a more equal sharing of the proceeds of cash crops between spouses: 'If the two of

you jointly financed or worked together on the farms, he makes you aware of how much income is

generated and the two of you take decision regarding how to use it'.

Men, women and young people defined those who were wealthy in the community as those who

could meet the basic needs of the family, could afford to hire labour to work on their farms, thereby

increasing their yields. They said that wealthy people had larger, well built homes, could afford to

eat good quality food, the children studied at higher levels of secondary and tertiary education, they

perhaps had consumer goods such as a car, could leave important assets to their children to inherit,

did not have to ask for help, such as loans, and could afford to 'take care of the poor people'. They

regarded a person of average wealth as having a small farm which he/she depended on to support

the family, they were able to meet their basic needs (for food, clothing, healthcare, housing,

education) and did not depend on others. They regarded poor people as those who did not have

adequate means to provide for their children, they could not afford to pay for National Health

Insurance, for children's education, or to feed the family. They all thought that only a small

proportion of the population of the village was wealthy, and the vast majority was either of average

wealth or was poor.

Participants reported that they usually ate two or three times a day. Just over half of the

interviewees (14/26) said that they usually ate twice a day and just under half (12/26) said they ate

three times a day. Many participants perceived the income from cashew cultivation as helping to

alleviate hunger and to pay for children's educational costs. As one young woman (aged 15)

commented: 'At first, sometimes we don't get food to eat before going to school. Now that the

cashew work is there, we get food to eat every day. We also get books and pens now at school'.

Household spending on food varied between less than 1 GHS [equivalent of 0.33 US$] per day

during harvest, to up to 10 GHS [3.33 US$] per day during the 'lean season', with most interviewees

reporting spending 3-5 GHS [1 - 1.66 US$] per day on food during this period. May - August were

reported as the most difficult months of the year, as farmers were waiting for the food crops to

mature and the income from cocoa and cashew had been used up. Participants sometimes

experienced food shortages during this ‘lean season’ between harvests, although if families had

significant land available for food crop production and the yield was good, food stores could

sometimes (rarely) last the whole year. For some interviewees, food stores only lasted for

approximately five months. Food crop yields were reported to be heavily dependent on sufficient

rainfall and most participants were not able to afford fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides.

Participants reported adopting a range of survival strategies to cope with poverty and food

shortages, such as reducing food consumption to one or two meals per day, eating less nutritional

food, relying on cassava or maize flour for their staple food, rather than their usual staples of yam,

cocoyam or plantain, buying food on credit, working as day labourers' on other people's farms,

selling or eating livestock and asking for help from family members. Some women said that they

struggled to ensure that their children could eat regularly and sometimes bought cooked food such

as rice for them to eat. They also sometimes sent young children to stay with other relatives. Many

participants were aware that food shortages and poor nutrition were most harmful for children, in

terms of their health and development and made sure that children had food to eat, even if adults'

consumption was reduced. They also reported that food shortages and famine negatively affected


14

children's ability to concentrate at school and could result in poor school attendance, including

truancy due to children hunting for bushmeat to obtain food.

5.2 Changing access to land and inheritance practices?

The land that participants cultivated was regarded as 'family land', which was allocated to different

family members in large extended family/ clan groups by the family head. Chiefs were regarded as

custodians of these 'stool' or 'family lands' (Berry, 2009) and had an important role in resolving land

disputes. Traditionally among the Akan, land was transferred to younger generations through

matrilineal inheritance practices, whereby maternal nephews would inherit their uncle's land.

However, since the introduction of the Intestate Succession Law (PNDC law 111, 1985: Kutsoati and

Morck, 2012), participants reported that matrilineal inheritance practices were rarely observed and

there had been a shift towards patrilineal inheritance so that widows and their children (sons and

daughters) could inherit directly from the husband/ father. One young person explained: 'Even

though we farm on our mother’s land, we do it most often on our father's lands. This is because we

get our inheritance from our father’s side'. This shift to predominantly patrilineal inheritance

practices was welcomed, since previous practices were regarded as having detrimental impacts on

widows and children, who might be forced to leave the home and land they had shared with their

deceased husband/father.

Women appeared to have better access to land than in other regions, such as in Northern Ghana;

they gained access to land through their husband, in addition to being able to farm on land

belonging either to their father's or their mother's family. Newcomers and migrants were able to

gain access to land through negotiating with the chiefs and family heads and engaging in share-

cropping arrangements, whereby they cultivated the land and shared the harvest with the

landowner, gaining ownership of half or a third of the produce following the harvest, and in the

case of cashew, gaining ownership of half or a third of the land.

Increased cashew cultivation was reported to be leading to greater competition for land and

consolidating communal property rights into more individualised systems of property ownership,

since tree crops, such as cashew, oil palm and teak were regarded as an individual's property. One

older man commented:

'Yes, it has changed our inheritance system. Previously, we can inherit the lands that our

grandfathers farmed on. But now that is not possible since nobody will allow his cashew

plantations to be inherited by external relatives. It is for only your wife and children, not for

the external relatives'.

Cashew was thus regarded as individual property to be passed on to one's immediate descendants.

People were aware of the Intestate Succession Law and increasingly made written or verbal wills to

safeguard the inheritance of their property. Few interviewees had land titles or had registered their

family lands, except for those who had cocoa farms in Western region, which they had bought,

obtained through share-cropping arrangements or inherited and therefore had land titles to this

land. Following the death of male heads of household, cocoa farms were often divided into three

parts and shared between the husband's family, his widow and children or sold to pay off debts.

Due to the individualised nature of property rights of tree crops, the approval of family heads was

generally needed to change land use from food to tree crop cultivation. Widows were usually able

to continue to grow food crops on their deceased husband's land following his death, especially if

they had children to support, but if they remarried outside of their husband's family, widows could

not continue to access the land. Widows and newcomers were subject to regulations about

growing cashew and other tree crops on land to which that they only had usufruct rights: 'A widow

is allowed to farm on her late husband’s land but only for cultivation of food crops and not cash


15

crops like cashew' (young woman). Young women's comments suggest that married women

regarded cultivating a portion of their father's land as a vital means of livelihood security in the

event that they lost access to their husband's land after his death: 'A married woman still needs to

farm on her father's and husband’s land to prevent loss of land at her father’s side when the husband

is no more'. Indeed, some instances were reported where widows’ continued access to their

deceased husband’s land was denied by his relatives.

Widows who had inherited cashew farms from their deceased husband thought it was important to

continue to cultivate cashew to safeguard their land inheritance. For example, one widow (aged 40)

commented: 'Even though it has its disadvantages, I am doing it to secure my late husband's land to

prevent people encroaching on it in future...I am left with a small part of the land because people

have been farming on it, so if I don't, they would take it from me'. Others reported restrictions

imposed on widows from expanding cashew farms. For example, one widow had replanted her

deceased husband's cashew farm following destruction by bushfire four years previously. She had

been told by her husband's family not to expand the cashew plantation:

'The family land I am farming currently is just a portion of the land. The family members

have actually told me not to expand the farm. This is because they fear that if people keep

on expanding their cashew farm, it may create food shortages. So if I should disobey and

expand the cashew farm, this may generate conflict between us'.

Some young people also reported that they had not inherited their father's land and found it very

difficult, when they came of age, to re-claim their inheritance from relatives who had taken the land

following their father's death, resulting in family disputes. Writing wills was regarded as a way to

help secure children's inheritance: 'Normally some people seize the property from the children if

the will is not made'. Land disputes and conflicts within and between families were reported to be

common, but most were settled amicably by the chiefs and elders. Some land disputes between

chiefs from neighbouring communities were reported to be the subject of ongoing law suits which

had lasted for several years, with an agreement that community members could continue to farm

on the land until the case was resolved.

5.3 Impacts of increased cashew cultivation on food security and poverty alleviation

Most participants had been cultivating cashew for between three and ten years at the time of the

research. The estimated size of participants' cashew plantations varied considerably from 2 acres

cultivated by one widow, to 40 acres cultivated by a middle-aged married man, who was not

originally from the community and had gained access to the land through his wife's family. There

were no large-scale commercial cashew plantations in the community; the chief noted that there

was insufficient land available for this. Many participants were not aware of the exact size of their

farms. Cashew was usually harvested in the period from February to April each year. Pruning cashew

trees was regarded more as 'men's work' than women's, but widows or women whose husbands

were away either hired labour or did this work on the cashew plantation themselves. Women and

children usually gathered the cashew nuts and/ or labourers were hired to harvest the cashew.

Participants sold the cashew in the village to agents of the cashew buyer companies such as Olam, a

company based in India or to other buyers reported to be from Vietnam, Singapore and other Asian

countries.

Many participants thought that increased cashew production in recent years had helped to improve

their living standards and enabled them to pay for their children's education. Some commented

that the cashew income had even enabled some families to support their children through to

tertiary level education. It had enabled many families to renovate and rebuild their homes with


16

better quality materials, although these renovations often took a long time to complete, as shown

in Figure 7. Since many participants also had cocoa farms in Western region, the sale of cashew

provided a welcome additional cash income following the cocoa harvesting season. As one male

farmer commented:

'There has been a positive change; previously our parents only went to the Western Region

to cultivate cocoa so when the harvesting was over, there was not any other work to do

until the next cocoa season. But this time round, by the time the cocoa money is finished,

income from the cashew will be ready so we are able to balance between the seasons, with

money from both cocoa and cashew'.

Figure 7: Renovating homes with the

income from cashew production

Participants reported that cashew had been grown for many years in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire.

People started growing cashew in the village when they saw other farmers making a good income

from cashew production. They commented that the climate and soil were particularly favourable

for cashew cultivation, especially since many community members' cocoa farms were becoming less

productive and the food crops, such as maize, that they used to rely on for sale as well as

consumption, were not producing such good yields in recent years. One community elder also

commented that relatively unproductive 'waste' land could be used for cashew cultivation.

A key tension in relation to the expansion of cashew plantations in the community was the extent to

which this would affect food security in future. Although intercropping of young cashew plants and

food crops was possible in the first three to five years, when cashew trees matured, the dense

canopy and root system of the tree means that intercropping is no longer possible after the first five

years. Participants were aware of this potential difficulty and were concerned that the loss of land

for food crops could lead to food insecurity in future. For example, male farmers commented: 'Right

now, we get income to support ourselves, but in the future we will run out of food crops since we

would have used all the land for cashew cultivation'. Similarly female farmers, who are usually

responsible for providing food for the household, explained: 'You cannot grow crops on the land

once it has been used for cashew. So it means that we will run out of foodstuffs very soon and

famine will increase'. They noted that they now had to travel to the nearby market town to buy

more foodstuffs than previously. Young people were also concerned about the future impacts of

increased cashew cultivation on land that they and future generations would rely on for food

production: 'What our parents are doing now is not good, it will affects us and our children in

future'.


17

In view of these concerns, several participants recognised that some land needed to be reserved for

food crops and some families had allocated portions of their land for food crop cultivation. Indeed,

the chiefs had made public announcements calling for people to stop the expansion of cashew and

reserve a portion of their land for food crops:

'There has been a 'gongon’ beating [public announcement] to announce that already by

the chiefs, but the young ones don’t listen, before you realized the mounds are made ready

for planting the cashew. Now we need to make announcement through the district

assembly so that those who have the cashew farm already will take it like that and stop it'.

A representative of the District Agriculture Office estimated that the majority (60-70%) of the land

in the district was now used for cashew cultivation, reducing the land available for other crops.

Some farmers recognised the importance of not using all their land for cashew and having land

available to adapt to new crops, as one male farmer commented: 'In future, there may be the

discovery of the cultivation of new crops. So if I use all for growing cashew, I wouldn't have any land

for the cultivation of that crop'.

Agricultural extension officers had changed the information they gave to farmers and, at the time of

the research, advised them to plant cashew at 10 by 10 metre distance, to enable intercropping

with food crops:

'The moment they cover the place with the cashew, nothing can be planted there. But the

way we are teaching them now, you can continuously use the land meanwhile the cashew

plants will be there so that in the next 15 to 20 years, you can still utilise the land. [...] Now

we are planting at 10 metres by 10 metres. That will give you a lot of spaces in between the

plants which you can use for maize, yam, plantain, everything you want to do. This is what

we are teaching them now. In fact a lot of them are adhering to our advice now'.

Although providing this education about planting distances and getting farmers to 'buy into it' was

challenging, the District Agriculture Office representative felt that this intervention had come in

time to avert a major problem of food insecurity, as had been seen in the Sefwi area of Western

region, where many participants had cocoa farms:

'If this thing had not come in, I would say that in the next ten years, it would be very difficult

to get food as it is happening somewhere in the Western Region, around the Sefwi area

where they are having problems with the land for food crops. Land in those areas is not

available for cultivation because of cocoa. The people have to export food from here to the

area because of food shortages as the cocoa farms have taken over the lands. We want to

avoid that situation here'.

African Cashew Initiative representatives pointed out, however, that the 10 by 10 metre spacing

approach only allows intercropping for the first five years, but the cashew trees then grew too large

and thus this was 'not a solution in the long run'. They suggested that an alternative approach of

'alley cropping' of cashew nuts with food crops at a distance of 30 metres had proved successful in

northern Ghana.

Despite Agricultural Extension Officers' advice and farmers' awareness of the problem, many

participants thought that land disputes, both within and between families had increased in recent

years, as people sought to use as much of their land as possible for cashew plantations and

encroached on others' land to grow food crops. As an elder commented:

'Last year for instance, people with three thousand mounds used all to grow cashew and

when it happens like that, then the person tries to go on others' land to farm because he


18

can’t grow yam under the cashew, hence bringing up disputes on the land, and this will

cause us a lot of suffering in the next three years'.

Land disputes were usually resolved through the chiefs and other community leaders and the Unit

Committee, although occasionally disputes had to be settled in the law courts.

5.4 Global-local interdependencies and power relations

The research demonstrated how small-scale farmers, who used to predominantly grow food crops,

and sometimes cocoa in Western region, were increasingly tied into the global economy as they

expanded their cashew production. This made them increasingly vulnerable to price fluctuations,

both of cashew as an export crop, as well as that of food, in global markets. A representative of the

village Cashew Buyers Association explained that cashew prices fluctuated within the season,

explaining that in 2011, the price varied between 2 GHS per kg, to 1 GHS, ending the season at 1.20

GHS. This made it very difficult for farmers to be certain of the income they would earn. The price

had increased to over 2 GHS per kg at the beginning of the cashew season in 2014 (equivalent of

approximately 0.66 US$ per kg), although buyers and intermediaries suggested that this was likely

to decrease as the cashew season progressed, due to the decline in the quality of the nuts if they

could not be dried properly following rainfall.

Many participants highlighted the problem of 'middle-men' or intermediaries exploiting small-

holder farmers, since farmers lacked the means to transport their produce directly to buyers and

were forced to accept the prices set by intermediaries. In the focus group, the men explained:

'Cashew is exported to China and India. They buy most of it through middle men. They use the local

people as purchasing agents who also reduce the prices, so that they end up cheating the farmers'.

Farmers and Agricultural Extension Officers had sought to establish an Association of Cashew

Growers and an Association of Cashew Buyers in the village to try to negotiate better prices with the

agents and buyer export companies. In their experience, however, such associations and

cooperatives were generally in a weak bargaining position to negotiate prices with agents. In

addition, some farmers were reluctant to support and contribute financially to an association and

could not afford to wait until later in the season to sell their cashew. As one male farmer

commented: 'We set up a group to help us bargain well on the prices, but because the government

is not part of it, the buyers are able to have their way by offering us anything they like'.

Many community participants and key informants at the local, district and national levels thought

that the Government of Ghana should regulate the sale of cashew and guarantee the price, in same

way as cocoa:

'…here is the case, the private companies come with their own price. At the beginning,

they may say a kilo will cost so much but because there is no guaranteed price, farmers have

no option but to sell to them'. (representative of the District Agriculture Office)

'With respect to the buying, we would beg that if the government can intervene it should,

so that there would be no representatives or middlemen. There should be a fixed price just

like the price tag on cocoa. It would help us a lot because the person knows that cashew is

bought and sold at this price. So there is no cheating'. (representative of Cashew Buyers

Association).

The Cashew Growers Association reported that they had sent petitions to local government

representatives and tried to lobby Government representatives of the Ministry of Food and

Agriculture responsible for cashew about pricing and the need for government support, but their

efforts to date had been in vain. Ministry of Food and Agriculture representatives and other

stakeholders suggested that government involvement was unlikely at present, since the volume of


19

cashew production was still relatively small compared to other export crops. They also pointed to

issues of inconsistent quality of the produce and the need for the Government to add value to

primary products through, for example, processing taking place in the country, before the

Government would become involved in buying cashew from small-scale producers and

guaranteeing a minimum price.

Strategic stakeholders highlighted the fact that there is a relatively high demand for cashew in

Ghana, due to the availability of cashew processing facilities, a favourable political climate for export

companies, combined with limited raw material. This means that cashew farmers in Ghana generally

received higher prices for their cashew in comparison to cashew farmers in neighbouring countries,

such as Ivory Coast. For example, the farm price of RCNs in Ghana in 2014 was the equivalent of

250-300 Francs CFA [equivalent of 0.52 - 0.62 US$] per kg compared to 200-250 Francs CFA [0.42 -

0.52 US$] in Côte d'Ivoire (www.anacarde.com, 2014).

The Jaman North District Assembly (2014) note that the export of raw cashew by local and

international merchants seriously affects the comparative economic development of the District

and suggests that large-scale processing is required to encourage farmers to increase production.

Recent news reports suggest however that following successful lobbying by the Ghana Cashew

Industry Association, the Government of Ghana is committed to doubling production of cashew in

the period 2013-16 (African Cashew Alliance, 2013) and the number of processing plants is being

increased from the current total of 12, as large processing companies establish processing plants in

Ghana, particularly in Brong-Ahafo region (Ghanaweb, 2014).

According to an African Cashew Alliance (ACA) representative, the vast majority (90%) of RCNs

currently produced in Africa is exported for processing elsewhere (mainly in India and Vietnam).

However the situation in Ghana is rather different from other African cashew producing countries,

such as Ivory Coast, which has a much higher volume of cashew production. Recent investment in

cashew processing facilities in Ghana, including four in Brong-Ahafo region, means that processing

facilities exceed current levels of cashew production. From ACA's perspective, the emphasis in

Ghana should be on increasing the quantity and quality of cashew produced and ensuring better

market linkages between farmers and processors, rather than emphasising a need for more

processing facilities:

'What is required in Ghana at the moment is to establish good linkages between the

farming communities in the northern regions and the processing facilities, so that the

cashew actually does reach the factories. Because at the moment, especially with the ban

on cashew from Ivory Coast, the processors are looking to, where am I going to get my

cashew from? Being in competition with external traders, let's say, who are going to take

the raw cashew and export it to India, Vietnam while there's processing units within Ghana

that do not have sufficient supply' (representative of ACA).

Ivory Coast's recent enforcement of the ban on cross-border trade of agricultural products between

Ivory Coast and Ghana (the law was originally passed in 1991, but only enforced from 2013) was

regarded as having a mixed impact. Some cashew farmers and young people in the rural

community (located within a few kilometres of the Sampa border crossing with Ivory Coast)

appeared to welcome the ban; they felt that imported cashew from Ivory Coast was often sold at

lower prices, which made it difficult for them to negotiate higher prices for their cashew produced

in Ghana. Strategic stakeholders thought that the ban was likely to have a detrimental impact on

cashew traders, processers and buyers in Ghana, especially in Jaman North and other districts near

the border, since it led to a reduced supply of raw material being sold in Ghana for processing and

for export. They suggested that the ban might also be linked to the current and future expansion of


20

cashew plantations in the study location, since farmers may be keen to plant more cashew trees to

obtain higher yields in order to meet the increased demand for cashew.

5.5 Reducing risks and preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty?

The research highlighted a number of problems facing small-holder farmers in the research location

which restricted the productivity of their farms and increased their vulnerability to shocks and the

risk of the intergenerational transmission of poverty. These included pests and diseases affecting

cashew and food crops; being unable to afford pesticides, weedicides and fertilisers for food crop

production; difficulties accessing 'agric' improved cashew seedlings that produce higher yields;

being unable to hire labour to maintain, harvest and expand cashew plantations; difficulties

accessing credit for investment and paying back loans; declining soil fertility due to not being able

to leave land fallow and continuous cropping practices; insufficient rainfall, which had badly

affected the maize and yam yields the year of the research; difficulty storing food crops, leading to

post-harvest losses of maize and fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes; insufficient cashew storage

facilities and theft of produce; lack of vehicles and costs of transporting produce to markets; and

exploitation by intermediaries and cashew buyers who forced farmers to accept low prices.

A Cashew Development Project, funded by the African Development Bank, had been in operation in

the district from 2003-2008 and had provided access to loans to groups of farmers to expand their

plantations. Strategic professionals reported that many of the farmers had not been able to repay

their loans and the project had been taken over by the Cashew Initiative of GIZ (the German

Government Agency for International Cooperation), which provided assistance with inputs and

training.

Few of the cashew farmers interviewed reported receiving any assistance, training or support from

NGOs or governmental agencies, except for access to subsidised inputs, and some limited

education and technical advice provided by Agricultural Extension Officers. Strategic professionals

highlighted the fact that the human and financial resources of the District Agriculture Office were

heavily overstretched, with very few extension officers available to cover a large area, they lacked

transport and experienced other logistical and resource constraints.

Government initiatives to provide loans and micro-finance that farmers could use to invest in

inputs and labour to increase yields were welcomed, although some farmers experiencing poverty

did not think that they would qualify for loans and/or feared not being able to repay any loans

offered. Despite subsidised inputs, many farmers with smaller farms, especially widows and other

female farmers, struggled to pay for pesticides, weedicides and fertilisers to improve food crop

yields and could not afford to hire labourers to weed and prune cashew trees and to harvest the

cashew. The poorest groups, such as older women and children, were sometimes forced to rely on

day labour working on cashew plantations to earn money to feed themselves. During filming for the

video, one older woman (aged 85) was working as a day labourer to harvest cashew with her young

grand-daughters (aged 12 and 6 years) on a Saturday (the older girl attended school during the

week). They earned 2.50 GHS [0.83 US $] per large bucket of cashew collected for the land owner.

The older woman had her own farm of approximately two acres which could produce four or five

buckets of maize for sale and her husband had a larger farm but in recent years, he had become

blind and she was not able to maintain it.

Some strategic professionals thought that government should provide assistance to cashew farmers

with spraying cashew with pesticides to increase yields, similar to the support provided to cocoa

farmers. However, an African Cashew Initiative representative commented that cashew could be

easily produced in West Africa without insecticides, pesticides and other chemicals. Rather than


21

relying on chemicals to improve yields, a recent ACi study (2013) shows that pollination initiatives

such as beekeeping could help to raise cashew yields in West Africa substantially. Although not as

dramatic an increase as in Benin, yields increased in the study locations in Ghana where beekeeping

was integrated on cashew plantations by an average of 116.7% (ACi, 2013). Beekeeping also helped

to increase farmers' incomes through the sale of hive products (honey, beeswax and propolis).

Many participants also commented on perceived environmental and climate-related risks. These

included: insufficient and more unpredictable rainfall patterns which reduced food crop yields

(particularly maize and yam) and increased food prices; the problem of bushfires which could

destroy food crops and severely damage cashew plantations (although community mobilisation

efforts appeared to be effective in reducing this risk); and flooding of the land near the river and

sometimes homes in the lower part of the village. Many participants thought that insufficient

rainfall was related to deforestation and teak logging activities, while some also saw this as a natural

phenomenon or related it to spiritual beliefs: 'when we are experiencing inadequate rainfall, it is

believed that the land has "spoiled" spiritually. As such we have to see the elders to pacify the gods

so that they will ensure we get adequate rainfall'. Participants were involved in a government tree

planting initiative to address deforestation on communal land near the river. In response to the

changing climate, Representatives of the District Agriculture Office thought that farmers needed to

be flexible, diversify and adapt their practices, such as growing cowpea to make up for the loss of

maize and so on.

Almost all participants regarded education and formal sector employment as the most important

priority to prevent the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The income earned from cashew

was viewed as a means to support children's education to enable them to pursue formal sector job

opportunities in the city and provide for their parents and elders in old age as part of the

intergenerational contract (Collard, 2000): 'Money from the cashew can help us to finance our

children’s education so that they can come and take care of us in the future' (men, focus group).

This vision of the future is thus based on a reliance on income from cashew to support educational

investments in the younger generation, so that young people will not need to rely on the land to

develop sustainable livelihoods in future. Thus, the expansion of waged employment was regarded

as the solution to provide jobs for young people in rural and urban areas in the future.

Young people also thought that if land was no longer available for them to cultivate, they would

need to rely on formal employment opportunities in future: 'We don’t have enough land anymore

so we need office jobs here'. Young people felt that the older generations were reluctant to

recognise the problem of insufficient land remaining for food crops due to increased cashew

cultivation: 'They [their parents and elders] know but because of the present benefits, they do not

want to talk about it'. They said that it was difficult to raise these issues with their parents and that

direction was needed from community leaders and elders, such as family heads: 'Only the heads of

families can stop our fathers from growing cashew' .

Several community participants and some strategic professionals expressed their view that young

people were not interested in farming and identified a need for more investment in agricultural and

rural development to make it more attractive for youth. Some strategic stakeholders suggested that

the school curriculum needed to be revised to include agricultural science at an earlier stage. A

male farmer who had developed large cashew plantations, gaining access to land in the community

through his wife, commented that despite population growth and the increased demand for land

for cashew plantations, sufficient family land was still available for young people who wished to

farm: 'I am a migrant but I managed to get land for farming. So, the young ones who are determined

in the community can also get access to the land for farming. Others are lazy and do not want to

make any investments in agriculture'.


22

The views of some young people, howe

Documents

Cashew Cultivation, Access to Land and Food Security in ...centaur.reading.ac.uk/37424/1/Walker research note Ghana final.pdf · cashew prices with export companies, processors and